Analysis of Those Dancing Days Are Gone
William Butler Yeats 1865 (Sandymount) – 1939 (Menton)
Come, let me sing into your ear;
Those dancing days are gone,
All that silk and satin gear;
Crouch upon a stone,
Wrapping that foul body up
In as foul a rag:
I carry the sun in a golden cup.
The moon in a silver bag.
Curse as you may I sing it through;
What matter if the knave
That the most could pleasure you,
The children that he gave,
Are somewhere sleeping like a top
Under a marble flag?
I carry the sun in a golden cup.
The moon in a silver bag.
I thought it out this very day.
Noon upon the clock,
A man may put pretence away
Who leans upon a stick,
May sing, and sing until he drop,
Whether to maid or hag:
I carry the sun in a golden cup,
The moon in a silver bag.
Scheme | xxxxabAB cdcdebAB fxfxebAB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110111 110111 1110101 10101 1011101 01101 1100100101 0100101 11111111 110101 1011101 010111 1110101 100101 1100100101 0100101 11111101 10101 0111101 110101 11010111 101111 1100100101 0100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 659 |
Words | 144 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 170 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 43 sec read
- 266 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Those Dancing Days Are Gone" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39579/those-dancing-days-are-gone>.
Discuss this William Butler Yeats poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In